Hello, my name is Byron. I'm from China. I have difficulty understanding an article about Pandora. Could anyone help me?

Pandora
Woman was not yet made. The first woman was named Pandora. She was made in heaven, every god contributing something to perfect her. Venus gave her beauty, Mercury persuasion, Apollo music, etc. Thus equipped, she was sent to earth and presented to Epimetheus, who gladly accepted her, though cautioned by his brother to beware of Jupiter and his gifts. Epimetheus had in his house a jar, in which were kept certain noxious articles. Pandora was seized with an eager curiosity to konw what his jar contained. And one day she slipped off the cover and looked in. Forthwith there escaped a multitude of plagues for unlucky man-such as gout, rheumatism, and colic for his body, and envy spite, and revenge for his mind-and scattered themselves far and wide. Pandora hastened to replace the lid; but, god! The whole contents of the jar had escaped, one thing only excepted, which lay at the bottom, and that was hope. So we see at this day, whatever we have that, no amount of other ills can makes us completely wretched.

1. What does the first sentence mean?

2. What does the last sentence mean?

3. Does this artice conforms to the Greek myth? Sorry, I'm not very familiar with the Greek myth. According to the Greek myth, does Pandora open the jar deliberately or out of curiosity? Does hope escapes from the box or not? Does the jar belong to Epimetheus or is it brought to him by Pandora?

Thank you in advance.